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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179723">love is a tree, and the lovers are its shade</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/elouanwrites/pseuds/elouanwrites'>elouanwrites</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, Holidays, JangObi, Jedi Friendly, M/M, Secret Relationship, We Stan Mace Windu In This House, jaster is still alive because I say so, so is Qui-Gon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:42:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,166</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/elouanwrites/pseuds/elouanwrites</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>MERRY CANDLENIGHTS CRY I hope you like it ଵ˛̼ଵ</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>276</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>love is a tree, and the lovers are its shade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastbattlecry/gifts">lastbattlecry</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>MERRY CANDLENIGHTS CRY I hope you like it ଵ˛̼ଵ</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Jango wasn’t accustomed to being in enemy territory without his armor. His dark synthleather jacket and pants helped him blend into the shadows like his beskar never could, but offered little in the way of protection aside from that. It left him feeling vulnerable in a way he didn’t care for, but then it <em>also </em>added a bit of a thrill to what would otherwise be a far too easy infiltration, so he supposed things evened out. He paused, perched on the outer wall, and peered around the darkened garden. A wolfish grin spread across his face. No watchers, no guards, no witnesses. <em>Perfect</em>.</p><p>Slowly, all of his senses straining for any sign of watchers, he lowered himself down the inside of the wall and hung by his fingertips before dropping lightly to the ground below. The sound of his feet touching down was almost entirely muffled by the springy give of the groundcover. A quick glance around revealed no sudden observers, so he swiftly made his way toward the nearest entrance, flitting from shadow to shadow like a ghost. He pressed a gloved hand to the panel next to the side door, snorting derisively when it lit green and the door slid open. Unlocked. How careless of them.</p><p>Inside the corridor was dim, lit well enough to move through it without issue, but not so well that it likely saw much in the way of foot traffic. Good, his intelligence was accurate so far. Slowly, listening carefully for the sounds of approaching enemies, Jango crept down the corridor. None of the doors along it were locked either. From the few he checked they appeared to all be unused living quarters, empty of furniture or personal belongings. He made a mental note of any with windows that opened onto secluded corners of the garden in case he needed a quick escape, and moved on.</p><p>At the first cross corridor he paused, straining his ears for any hint of approaching feet, but heard nothing so he peeked around the corner. The corridor beyond was fortunately empty. This one, however, was much more brightly lit. Probably a relatively well-travelled part of the compound. He'd best be cautious. He hesitated for a moment, considering the vague map he’d memorized and his target’s likely position at this time of the night, then turned to the right and continued on.</p><p>The first sign of any occupants came not much later, when a door in front of him slid open with a soft hiss. Reflexively Jango slapped his hand against the door pad next to him and dashed into the room, quickly glancing around as he did. Empty, thank the ka’ra, but definitely not uninhabited. The room was fully furnished and had obviously personal touches scattered around. Jango pressed himself up against the wall next to the open door, listening as soft footsteps came out of the next room and started down the corridor. They were moving away from him. Good, that meant he was probably going the right way.</p><p>He waited until they were out of range, then waited a minute longer for good measure before cautiously moving back out into the corridor. On he crept through the quiet hall until he approached an opening into a wider room. The sound of cheerful conversation interspersed with laughter reached his ears and he slowed, creeping up toward the doorway in silent feet. It was a large hall, skylights above letting in the glow from the city lights even at this time of night.</p><p>Across the large space there was a small crowd of people milling around, digging things out of storage crates and jostling each other good-naturedly. Jango slid out into the room, quickly dashing behind a nearby grouping of large, fluffy trees in pots, then froze. Judging by the lack of alarm from the other occupants of the space, no one had seen his entry. He let out a silent breath, then crouched down to peer through the trunks over at the group.</p><p>He froze again when his gaze accidentally made contact with one of the targets’. The tall, severe looking korun man twitched, frowned, but didn’t alert the others to Jango’s presence. Jango grinned at his unexpected ally, who closed his eyes for a moment with a deep enough sigh to be visible, even at this distance, then turned back to the crate in front of him. Jango moved on to scan the rest of the group for his target, his grin fading in the face of his focus, but returning full force when he locked his sight on his prey. Target acquired. All he had to do was wait.</p><p>Fortunately it wasn’t too long before the group across the hall started to break up, each person taking an armful of supplies out of the crates and scattering down the various hallways. Jango flattened to the ground behind the stand of potted trees and watched, almost breathless with anticipation, as his target moved closer. Luck was with him. The target chose a relatively close corridor to take, and Jango quickly switched his attention back to the rest of the room to watch it slowly empty of witnesses. His ally across the room cast one last look at his hiding place, face impassive, then stepped through the doorway with his own armful of boxes and disappeared.</p><p>It was only a few minutes until the large hall was completely empty, and Jango swiftly dashed from his hiding place to the wall next to the corridor his target went down. He listened carefully, and hearing nothing dared a peek. This hall was much wider than the ones he’d been down before, and more open. Not ideal. At least it was open enough that his target would have nowhere to hide when he caught up. Spying a figure further down the corridor, Jango felt his lips part in another wolfish grin, anticipation curling up his spine. The hunt was almost over.</p><p>On silent feet he ghosted across the tile floor towards his oblivious prey. When he was just a few yards away his ears picked up the sound of soft humming as the target set his boxes down and started opening them. Jango slowed, well aware of his prey’s observational skills, but banking on the fact that he was in home territory to lull him into a sense of complacency. He wouldn’t be expecting a threat to come from within his home base, after all. The more fool him.</p><p>Step by soundless step he approached until finally he was within range to attack. Jango lunged forward, every muscle tense and ready to overpower any resistance. He must have made some small noise because his target turned with a start, eyes widening as he flailed backwards. Too little too late. Jango locked his hands around his target’s wrists and spun, whirling the other man across the hall into a nearby alcove and shoving him up against the wall. He pressed his hand across his prey’s open mouth, muffling the startled squawk, and leaned his full body up against him in a pin.</p><p>“<em>Shh,</em>” he whispered harshly, glancing back toward the corridor with narrow eyes. Nothing. There was no alarm, no outcry over an intruder in the temple. He hadn’t missed any observers then, good. Pleased, he turned his attention back to his target and slowly lifted his hand away from that soft, pretty mouth.</p><p>Obi-Wan pushed him back a step, eyes wide with poorly hidden panic as his face twisted in an exasperated grimace. "Jango, what are you even doing here?!” he hissed, peeking his own head out of the alcove to check for witnesses. “You said you were on Corellia!”</p><p>Jango grinned and pressed close again, herding Obi-Wan back up against the wall. “Well,” he murmured with a sly smirk, “<em>You,</em> ideally.” He snickered quietly at Obi-Wan’s furious flush, leaning in to steal a kiss. Obi-Wan allowed it, like always, leaning into the press of Jango’s lips with his usual enthusiasm despite his outraged flailing, and Jango smirked against his mouth.</p><p>Obi-Wan huffed in offense when he felt Jango’s amusement, pulling away and pushing Jango back with a hand on his face, ignoring his muffled laughter. “You should be so lucky,” he muttered, glancing around the corner of the alcove and down the hall. “I have half a mind to send you packing right now for showing up unannounced.” He frowned, turning back to give Jango a careful once over, checking for any new injuries acquired since their last meeting. “Did anyone see you?”</p><p>Jango hesitated, casting about shiftily. “Of course not,” he said quickly.</p><p>Obi-Wan’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “<em>Jango</em>—”</p><p>“And if you want to keep it that way,” Jango interrupted, “We’d better get moving to someplace a little less...open.”</p><p>Obi-Wan stared meaningfully for another few seconds, eyebrows drawing together before visibly deciding to let it go. “Fine,” he huffed. “Everyone still awake is scattered throughout the temple decorating, but there’s a meditation garden nearby that should be empty.”</p><p>With that he grabbed Jango’s hand and pulled him out of the alcove and down the corridor, determinedly ignoring Jango’s badly hidden amusement. Jango allowed himself to be dragged along, riding the high of a successful infiltration and delighting in the low stakes of the “mission” to surprise his lover for the holiday. Obi-Wan may prefer to believe that none of the rest of the order was aware of his attachment to a notorious bounty hunter, but Jango had no doubt that was just wishful thinking on his part. He’d seen far too many exasperated eye rolls from jedi masters at the sight of him to believe that they weren’t fully aware of his liaisons with their knight, <em>especially</em> from said knight’s master.</p><p>Jango was jolted out of his thoughts and back to the present when Obi-Wan ducked through a doorway into a small garden room. He’d only seen holos of the temple a few times, and of the meditation gardens even less, but he was pretty sure none of them had ever been this...<em>sparkly</em>. There were garlands and glittery tinsel draped over every inorganic structure and most of the plants, and colorful orbs of iridescent, transparent material hung from every branch large enough to support them. The lanterns along the paths cast a warm light that reflected off the decorations with a scattering of rainbows. Jango pulled back against Obi-Wan’s insistent tugging so he could pause to take it all in.</p><p>He...didn’t hate it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Obi-Wan softened as he watched Jango enjoy his first experience with a temple meditation room decorated for life day, twining their fingers together more thoroughly. They’d only been lovers for a bit over six months, so he doubted Jango would ever have had the opportunity to see a jedi temple dressed up for the holidays. It really was a beautiful sight.</p><p>After a moment he stepped forward, gently tugging Jango into motion with him, and led him over towards his favorite tree. That particular garden had an especially pretty apocia in the far corner, over a hundred years old, and the hanging branches made a wonderfully secluded spot to meditate in peace. He paused long enough to draw the slender white branches aside, and ushered Jango under the low canopy. Underneath the ground was covered with a dense, springy, dark green moss, and the pale gold of the apocia leaves almost glowed with the soft light from the lanterns.</p><p>Much less anxious about being seen now, in the secluded garden under the dense foliage, he happily crowded Jango up against the trunk, returning the favor from earlier. Jango went willingly, that ridiculous smirk that Obi-Wan loved and hated in equal measure turning up the corner of his mouth. Obi-Wan reached up with one hand to card his fingers through curly hair, slipping the other around Jango’s waist and pressing close.</p><p>“Hello there,” he murmured, leaning in close. “It <em>is</em> very nice to see you, even if it is entirely ill-advised.”</p><p>Jango hummed, pleased, his own hand coming up to wrap around the back of Obi-Wan’s neck as the other arm pulled him even closer. “I missed you,” he said, his voice low and quiet. “And I was on Coruscant anyway, on a job for Jaster, so I thought I’d surprise you.” He paused for a moment to lean in close, his breath ghosting across Obi-Wan’s ear. “Also,” he murmured, “There’s a mandalorian tradition I wanted to share with you.”</p><p>Obi-Wan shivered, scratching his nails lightly across Jango’s scalp. “Oh?” he asked, somewhat breathlessly. “And what tradition would that be?” He could feel Jango’s smile against his cheek, feel the heat of his anticipation, and he felt his breath catch when the other man pulled back to reach into his jacket and pull out...a <em>plant</em>? He blinked, stared, felt his eyebrow raise of its own volition. The plant was a small sprig of stems with vibrantly green, sharply pointed needles and bundles of bright purple berries. It looked not in the least bit edible, though rather pretty. “It’s lovely,” he said, glancing up to meet Jango’s eyes, confused but charmed. “A traditional plant?”</p><p>Jango looked thoroughly amused, the bastard. “Not <em>just</em> a plant,” he said, reaching above their heads to hang the sprig on a small branch. “It’s an old, <em>old </em>tradition, the hanging of the bev’cerar. It was folded into life-day when we started celebrating it, but it’s been around a lot longer than that.”</p><p>“Needle...of the mountain?” Obi-Wan translated hesitantly. Jango’s delighted smile had him flushing again, silently damning his pale complexion.</p><p>“Mm,” Jango replied wordlessly. Finished securing the bev’cerar, he wrapped his arms back around Obi-Wan and drew him in again, one hand pressed to the side of his face as he leaned close and stopped just before his lips. “Anyone caught underneath has to pay a toll, you see. It’s a <em>very important</em> tradition.”</p><p>“Oh?” Obi-Wan asked breathlessly, shivering again as their lips barely brushed. “What sort of toll?”</p><p>Jango bypassed his mouth entirely, ignoring his huff of outrage, and rasped his stubble along Obi-Wan’s face and down his neck. “That depends,” he said, his lips moving against Obi-Wan’s pulse point. “It’s up to the one who placed it, though there are some...common demands.”</p><p>“Ah,” Obi-Wan said, swallowing. “And what—uh, what might <em>your</em> toll be, then?” He felt the movement of Jango’s lips against his skin, the pull and twist of that infuriatingly smug smile that had caught his eye and pulled him in.</p><p>“My toll,” he rumbled, “Is whatever you are willing to <em>give </em>me, Mesh’la.”</p><p>Obi-Wan shuddered, clutching at Jango’s jacket as he leaned into him. “Oh my dear, you should know by now that I can’t deny you <em>anything</em>,” he said breathlessly, turning his head to nip lightly at Jango’s ear. It was Jango’s turn to shiver and Obi-Wan’s to smile.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Mace had had a very, very long day, and his night wasn't shaping up to be any shorter. Preparations for Life Day were still not quite complete, and it was only three rotations away. The theater group was <em>still </em>frantically rehearsing for their performance, despite his numerous reassurances that they were all doing well. As the head of the group he couldn't exactly <em>miss</em> those rehearsals, even when there were <em>two on the same day</em>. Said rehearsals had bracketed a council meeting and been followed by a decorating committee progress check, leaving him with barely enough time to grab a bite to eat for lunch, and no time at all to just sit somewhere quiet for a few minutes to collect himself.</p><p>The huge stores of decorations pulled out of the depths of the temple had at least started to dwindle. The end was finally in sight. Unfortunately, so was Obi-Wan's "secret" boyfriend. Or at least, he <em>had</em> been. Mace trusted Obi-Wan's judgement enough that he knew he'd never attach himself to someone who would harm the temple or its occupants, so Mace wasn't exactly <em>worried</em> that Jango Fett was wandering the corridors somewhere, probably stalking a certain young knight, but he would still rather know where, exactly, they were. A bounty hunter and a jedi who was far more reckless than he liked to admit could get into who knows what kind of shenanigans when left unattended.</p><p>Grabbing one of the last few boxes of garlands, Mace headed down the corridor Obi-Wan had taken a few minutes before. He turned the corner just in time to see Obi-Wan dragging Fett into a meditation garden. <em>Good</em>. Surely they couldn't get into too much trouble in there. He busied himself nearby hanging the garlands over the doorways of the occupied quarters. As he made his way down the corridor, still within sight of the meditation garden, he came across Obi-Wan’s abandoned box. With a weary sigh, he added the contents to his pile, and continued festooning the temple with greenery and glitter.</p><p>Some time later (he very carefully did not note <em>how much</em> time later, he did not want to know), he heard the hiss of a door sliding open. Flushed and disheveled, Obi-Wan stumbled into view in the doorway, only to jerk to a halt as he saw Mace standing there.</p><p>“Master Windu!” he said loudly, jolting forward a bit as though someone had just run into his back. His voice was a touch higher than usual. “Wh-what are you—that is, I had thought I was assigned this corridor.”</p><p>Mace raised a single brow. “You were, yes. But as I came across your box while I was emptying my own, I decided to assist you.”</p><p>Obi-Wan’s flush deepened, and Mace could swear he heard a muffled snickering coming from behind him. “Ah, yes, I was just—”</p><p>Mace interrupted him with a raised hand, securing the end of the last garland then turning to face him. “I don’t need to know,” he said calmly. “Your guests are your business. I <em>would</em> prefer that they were signed in as visitors appropriately, but that is the sum of my opinion on the matter.”</p><p>Gathering up the empty boxes, he turned to see Obi-Wan open-mouthed and as bright a red as he’d ever seen on a human, and his lips twitched despite himself. The young knight would settle into himself eventually, but at the moment he was far too concerned with dignity and propriety. Probably as a defense mechanism after so long dealing with Qui-Gon, Mace thought fondly.</p><p>“Goodnight, Obi-Wan,” he said, then paused for a moment, considered, then continued with another quirk of his lips, “And goodnight to you as well, Mister Fett.” With that he turned away, determinedly not laughing at the poor knight’s whistling tea-kettle sound of dismayed embarrassment. Satisfied that whatever the two of them would be getting up to it would likely not cause any structural damage, at least, Mace headed off to his own rooms to get some much needed rest.</p><p>He would need it, for yet another rehearsal the next morning.</p><p> </p>
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